The Interdepartmental Undergraduate Neuroscience Program of Johns Hopkins University

You have four years to complete the coursework necessary for the major.  You do not have to take all the courses in one semester.  Therefore, plan in a four-year context.  Quality, not quantity, counts.  Taking fewer courses, doing well, and being happy is much preferred to taking more courses, doing badly, and feeling miserable.

 

All other factors being equal, take a course that is required for the major, rather than one that is not.  This statement does not mean you should have tunnel vision with respect to your education.  However, if you have no strong reasons for taking a course, or if there is a toss-up in the choice between courses, take one in your major.

 

Take a series of courses that interest you.  The primary concern is your education; the secondary concern is your major.  You must declare a major to get a diploma at the end, but you don’t have to have a major until then.  Plan your courses so that by the end of four years you will have a major completed, but your interests should indicate the major; the major should not indicate your interests.

 

Courses in computer science and math as related to computers should stand you in good stead.  In medicine, for example, there is a terminal beside each patient in the shock/trauma ward, and the physician gets all the information from the terminal rather than from a folder in the patient’s record.  In neuroscience, of course, computers are being used all the time.  An ability to work with computers will make your own life easier, and will make you more marketable to your employers.

 

You don’t have to commit yourself to a course right now, or at the beginning of a semester.  Get as much information as you can from other people in your class, student advisors, and students who have taken the class before.  Go to the first few classes, listen to the instructor, and check out the syllabus and the readings.  After you have all this information, you can make a final decision, but always register early for every course you might want to take.

Your faculty adviser will be happy to write a letter of recommendation for you.  Provide any forms that are necessary.  Also, get letters from anyone with whom you work at the time you finish working with them.  Peoples’ memories fade fast.  If you intend to do any kind of postgraduate work, then you should get letters of recommendation from a person whenever you finish a project with them.  Faculty usually have many students working with them, and will tend to forget you and what you did as the years pass; if you go back after an absence, they might remember little about what you actually did.  Thus, ask for a letter of recommendation whenever you finish a project.  (If you are continuing to work with that same person the next semester, of course, you can wait awhile.)  If the person agrees, set a date that is mutually agreeable.  After that date has passed, check to see that the letter has been written.  Be polite, but forceful, and continue to return until the letter has been done.  A tangible piece of evidence to remind the person and clutter up their desk is always helpful: An addressed envelope, a page with your name, the dates you worked with them, what you did, etc.  You have every reason to expect your supervisor to write a letter, so don’t be apologetic (or belligerent), but approach it as you would any other request.  Too many letters are always better than too few.  A letter that is not appropriate can always be excluded, but an excellent one that isn’t there (because you didn’t ask or didn’t make sure it arrived) cannot be used.

Be careful of academic burnout in the summer.  Some students want to cram in courses all summer long, and they risk coming back to school in September already tired and unable to work up the enthusiasm for another semester.  You may want to take courses during the summer, especially ones that you are unlikely to get here.  But we encourage you to think of summer as an alternative way of getting experiences (i.e., not through taking classes) and of getting rejuvenated for another semester in September.

 

Try to get a summer job in an area of your interest.  Unfortunately, the intellectually- rewarding jobs are often not the financially-rewarding ones, and certain fiscal constraints (as well as personal ones,) may influence your decision.  But give some consideration to the relative impact of a few extra dollars or a mind-stretching experience.  When considered over the course of your life, experience may have a much more profound influence than dollars.

The Career Center, located in Garland Hall, is available to help you in planning a career.  We strongly urge you to visit them several times while you are at Hopkins.  Their services are available at no charge.  They should be able to provide you with information about the types of careers that are most suitable for you, and the steps you should take to get ready for those careers.  Most student’s report that this office has been helpful, sometimes confirming what they already knew, sometimes giving them new information.

Some students are able to complete their graduation requirements early (i.e., in less than four complete years).  Sometimes, logical and compelling reasons suggest early graduation.  However, early graduation has costs as well as benefits.  These costs include missing opportunities (both intellectual and personal) at Hopkins, and often require making important sacrifices in order to cram four years’ worth of work into less time.  Your undergraduate career is probably the last time in your life before retirement that you will have the opportunity to freely explore so many different kinds of experiences.  We strongly urge you to consider taking full advantage this opportunity.

 

If you have compelling reasons to try to graduate early, you should consider what you are trying to gain through early graduation, and what you will lose.  If, after careful consideration and consulting with your adviser, you still wish to graduate early, then you should organize your program to do so.

We strongly encourage students to pursue the opportunity to take a year to study abroad (usually the junior year).  Typically, courses taken at a foreign university do not count towards the requirements for the Neuroscience major.  However, with the approval of Academic Advising, they may count towards fulfillment of the distribution requirements.  The experience of being abroad for a year can be an excellent one, which we strongly recommend.  We will work with you in every way possible to integrate your year abroad with the requirements for the major. Please contact Dr. Ruth Aranow in Academic Advising for information about specific study-abroad programs.